Crashing Equestria 3: Derpy's Gambit
by Zytharros
Summary: Zytharros has fallen. Derpy Hooves is now in charge of the Harmony Continuum. She has to keep the team together to stop Crystal Fist once and for all.
1. Continuum Rising

_Continuum Rising_

He was my best friend on the journey. He defended me from Razortongue's dark speech, helped me work through losing a job, had me do research for him, helped me clean up when I made a mess, laughing only twice, always encouraged me when I was down… he was awesome.

Now, he was fighting in Razortongue's carriage for his sanity, and it was my turn to help him. I was _not_ going to fail, da- er… darn it! (Horse apples… Razortongue's _filthy_ language was getting to me…)

Zytharros, the nicest stallion I had ever known, was now fending off an evil I had come to hate and hate thoroughly. She had caused us nothing but pain and trouble, heartbreak and sorrow, misery and remorse… she was just evil. After he collapsed, I had tried everything to help him, even that special "bubble mind" technique my grandma had taught me that I had used to send Zytharros into Rainbow Dash. Nothing worked.

Boomdrop and Razortongue hadn't spoken a word to each other. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were crying. Emerald Thunder was moping – the first time I had seen him not with a smile all the time I had known him. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were trying to console each other. Canuck Chuck looked very angry. I was on the brink of tears.

We kept going into town at a much slower pace, unsure of what we would find and scared of what would happen. It was up to the ten of us now. With Zytharros having named me leader, even though most of the others didn't agree, I had to lead them like the blue and dark blonde stallion had, and I was not going to let him down. Rainbow Dash had pledged herself to assist me like she had Zytharros. Celestia knows I need it – I can be a little flaky, hence why I have two names around Ponyvi-.

"Derpy! Watch for that tree!" Rainbow shouted at me.

I avoided that one. I must've gotten lost in thought again…

Anyways, after spending months in Fillydelphia getting ready for our journey, we had finally-

"Derpy! The house!" I swerved to avoid a house that had suddenly crossed my path.

-finally made it back to Ponyville. I wondered how well the mail had been delivered in my absence and how my other friends were doing. It was odd – I saw no mail in the mailboxes, and no ponies in the street.

"This isn't how Ponyville's supposed to be…" Razortongue said.

I always got nervous when she spoke… I was sure my ears would explode if I heard another brutal cuss. She was right, however. Never in my memory was Ponyville this deserted.

At least, that's what we thought.

I heard someone hiss at me. Normally, I would take that to mean they were whispering bad things about me. Instead, this time, it was just to get my attention. I looked over and saw Cheerilee poking her head out of one of the houses and waving at me like a maniac, so I trotted over.

"Hey, Cheerilee!" I said, smiling.

"Shh!" she said, hushing me. "Come inside – and bring your friends with you!"

I waved them over and they followed me indoors. I repeated the shushing noise as we entered – she did it so loudly it must've been important. We parked our carts outside in the nearby alleyway, unloaded them of everything including Zytharros, who by this time was sound asleep, exhausted from his time battling those beasts.

"Thank goodness you're finally here…" she said to Rainbow Dash. "The crazy ghosts of your friends are causing chaos all over the town! Pinkie Pie's terrorizing the kids… Applejack's destroying everything wholesome and good…" her tears began flowing "…Rarity and Twilight haven't been seen since Crystal Fist took over… and the Princesses are nowhere in sight…"

She bawled. "We don't know what to do… We've been living in terror and fear since she showed up at the party! The worst part is Princess Celestia never got a proper two thousandth birthday celebration…"

Fluttershy embraced Cheerilee as she cried, wrapping a hoof around the sullen deep purple Earth pony and comforting her.

"We'll fix this," Rainbow Dash said, a look of determination on her face. "We've got our own reasons for wanting her gone."

"That's right," Scootaloo piped up.

Cheerilee observed the cutie marks of the Crusaders. "Oh! You got your cutie marks! Wonderful! How did it happen?"

"We'll tell you when this whole fiasco is over," Sweetie Belle said. She nuzzled up to Zytharros affectionately. "Let's just say… Zytharros gave up a lot to get us them."

At the mention of his name, the curled-up stallion managed a weak but mangled smile. Rainbow and I both teared up at our fallen friend.

"H-he… he saved me… from the shadows…" Rainbow said, trying her best to stifle tears. "It's my turn to save him."

I nodded. "He helped me find my confidence again."

Razortongue placed a hoof on his rump. "He helped me become aware of my fucking mouth…"

Cheerilee gasped. I nodded. "She's way better than she was when we first met her."

"Give 'er time," Apple Bloom said. "She's getting' better, and left no bad marks on us, 'cept maybe Scootaloo." She stuck her tongue out playfully at her friend.

The ochre filly with the purple coiffure chuckled nervously. "Okay, so I've let my language slip a little…" she admitted, still carrying a weak smile.

Razortongue winked at the filly, who winked back.

"He's done a lot for all of us," Canuck Chuck telepathically concluded.

Cheerilee smiled. "Well, now that the girls are back safely, I guess we can leave the fate of Equestria in your capable hands," she said. "Girls? Let's leave the adults to their work."

I stepped forward. "Pardon me, Cheerilee," I said.

"Yes, Derpy?" she asked, my name mentioned with a bit of nervous energy.

I continued. "We need their help. When we were in Fillydelphia, Zytharros saved Rainbow. Just this morning, I saved Fluttershy. If I were to think like Zytharros, I would probably guess we don't know who will save who. We need to have them with us to help us."

Scootaloo nodded. "I'm not stopping 'til I see Crystal Fist brought to justice."

"I ain't either," Apple Bloom said. "Zytharros's done too much for us. 'Twouldn't be right for me just to sit back and do nothin'!"

Sweetie Belle looked back at the group. "I'll stay and watch Zytharros."

Rainbow nodded. "I'm staying back, too."

Everyone who had known Rainbow for a while gasped.

"What?" the scooter-flanked filly asked, taken aback at her idol's statement. "You want to kick Crystal Fist's flank just like the rest of us."

"I promised him I would stay by him and do whatever he wanted me to do," she said. "I can't back down from that."

Suddenly, a weak voice came from the stallion. "Rainbow…"

She ran to his side.

"Go with Derpy," he said, still fighting his battle of wills.

"But-" Rainbow said, tearing up.

Zytharros looked at her, cross. "That's my request of you, Loyalty. Go with Derpy. She needs your help. I'm not asking you to do this just as a favor…" he pulled out a note and threw it at her feet "…but also as a mark of loyalty to me, Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and ultimately Equestria. If I can't be there to help her, I want you to go in my stead."

Zytharros reeled in pain again, but still spoke through it. "I can see it now, Dashie… You and Derpy are the first part of the Harmony Continuum – the Element of Loyalty, paired with the Element of Determination. You will need her as much as she needs you."

"Element of Determination?" Dash asked questioningly.

Zytharros writhed once more, this time unable to reply. I continued, trying my best to recall what I had learned before, while trying to get over my shock of the revelation laid before me.

"The six Elements of Harmony have special supports. These are called the Guardians of Harmony, assigned to protect and support their assigned Element. There is one Guardian for each Element. Loyalty is matched with Determination, Kindness with Courage, Honesty with Tact, Laughter with Stability, Generosity with Spirit, and Friendship with Cheer. Together, they make up the Harmony Continuum… Zytharros' name, not the actual… didn't have a…"

I suddenly noticed all eyes were on me and I shrank back, forgetting everything. I never did like all attention on me… it usually meant they were going to laugh. I backed up straight into Razortongue, and when I looked at her she just gave me a reassuring smile and a gentle push. Somehow that calmed my nerves a little. I gave her a thankful smile in return.

"Anyways," I said, clearing my throat and taking a deep breath, "when we came back from Fillydelphia, we knew that of the eight of us, as in Razortongue, Boomdrop, Emerald Thunder, Canuck Chuck, me, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, had the Guardians of Harmony within us. Since Zytharros identified me as one – and that I'm paired up with Rainbow Dash, apparently… I'm still not sure if that's true 'cuz Dash's never cared too much for me, but anyway… that leaves five more to go."

"That's okay, Derpy," Dash said. "I'm sure we can work together on that."

I smiled at her, nodding. "Thanks."

Sweetie Belle's ears dropped back. "So, I can't stay and watch over Zytharros, then?"

"No, Sweets," Zytharros said affectionately, nuzzling her. "You have to go, too, and find your place."

She sighed. "But I don't feel my place is anywhere but helping Cheerilee take care of you," she said. "I don't _need_ to go any farther…"

I thought about it for a second. "Sweetie Belle," I said.

She turned to me, wondering what I was going to say.

"Rainbow Dash and Canuck Chuck are the two fastest members of our team," I said. "If we need you, we can always send them back."

"Hey, yeah!" Rainbow said, smiling. "You stay here and watch Zytharros. I'll come back if we need you."

"Me, too!" the snowy colt declared.

Sweetie Belle brightened. "Okay!"

Sweetie Belle returned to watching her self-assigned charge. Zytharros looked relieved that I had resolved that little spat. I hoped I could continue to do the same in the future.

"But it's going to be dangerous!" Cheerilee warned.

Boomdrop spoke up. "Scootaloo took out four of my old gang members without breaking a sweat. She even helped us escape from an exploding building. I would trust that filly to protect my life, and that is usually something I reserve solely and exclusively for myself."

Scootaloo looked at the black pegasus zebra in admiration and gratitude.

"You led them into battle!" Cheerilee shrieked. "What were you thinking?"

Razortongue stepped forward, eyeing the teacher with a fierce scowl. "Damn right. She earned her cutie mark that way. The way she used that scooter out there was… well, fucktastic!"

Cheerilee realized she was clearly outmatched. Admitting defeat, she backed down. She looked over at Apple Bloom.

"What about you?" she asked bitterly. "Are you… like her?"

Scootaloo somehow felt bitten by that statement and growled at her teacher. Razortongue put a hoof in front of her and shook her head.

Apple Bloom looked at her teacher with a straight face. "No."

Cheerilee sighed, relieved.

"I'm _with_ her. We're Cutie Mark Crusaders, after all. Together forever!"

At that, Cheerilee fainted, overwhelmed by the realization of how much her students had grown over the time they had spent with our group.

I swallowed. "Well, I guess we should make our way out and onward."

"Um… if you don't mind…" the butter yellow pegasus spoke for the first time… Fluttershy. That's right. One of the ponies I never did spend a lot of time with. "…I'm going to stay back and help Sweetie Belle take care of Cheerilee and Zytharros."

Emerald Thunder, his dopey smile returned, also volunteered to stay back and help.

"Okay," Canuck Chuck said. "We'll come back and get you if we need you."

I took stock of our team. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Boomdrop, Razortongue, and Canuck Chuck were the ones coming along with me. Sweetie Belle, Emerald Thunder and Fluttershy were staying back to watch Zytharros.

"I'd say we should start looking right now," Rainbow said, "but it looks like it's getting dark out. We'll have to start looking tomorrow."

A thought formed in my mind. "Dash, why don't you and Canuck Chuck scout around Ponyville for any shadows of friends? That way we know where they are in the morning."

Zytharros blurted, "Rarity and Twilight are in Canterlot. Only Pinkie Pie and Applejack remain here in Ponyville."

"I thought you couldn't hear us this morning," Rainbow said. "Why can you hear us now?"

Zytharros winced. "I guess I'm getting used to the crowd in my head…" he said with a bit of a chuckle before he curled up on himself, returning to the fight.

Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy, and Emerald Thunder disappeared, rushing around to find where the washcloths and medicines were kept.

Rainbow stomped a hoof. "I wish I could do more for you," she said. "I'd give everything I am, have, and live by just to cure you, Zy." She walked up to the stallion and placed a kiss on his forehead, shedding a tear into his mane. "Don't give up on me. Ever."

After a couple seconds just staring at our ailing friend, Rainbow nodded to Canuck Chuck. They exited the house and took off into the black sky. Scootaloo stood, stunned, wide-eyed and amazed that Rainbow would do something that… that _sappy_ to a friend.

Eventually, though, we all settled into a restless evening. I walked outside, fluttered to a rooftop…

…and cried…


	2. Some Candy for the Road

_Some Candy for the Road_

I woke up on the same roof, but doubts still plagued my mind.

I'll be the first to admit, this was the first time anypony had picked me for a leadership position. I had always been content in a support role, never really questioning helping anyone else out, nor expecting anything in return. I never felt qualified to lead. I was always screwing something up. Leaders don't screw things up all the time, do they? At least, they're not supposed to…

It was dawn. The smell of the morning dew was invigorating. So was the chill that came from being coated in the stuff. I stood and shook myself off. Looking at the sky, I puzzled for a moment why the pegasi of Ponyville like myself weren't organizing the weather. A glint in the sky reminded me that nopony could get to the clouds because of the barrier.

I took a deep breath and smiled. Today nothing was going to get me down. Even seeing Zytharros in the state he was in. Even the impending doom of my klutzy leadersh-

Muffin tops… why did I think of that?

I sulked once again, then shook my head and righted myself. This was no time to be depressed. My team needed me. I took a couple steps, briefly forgetting where I was, and promptly tumbled off the roof, crashing hard into the building beside the one I had slept on.

"Ow…"

I sighed in relief, happy the day started like normal for once. I pulled myself out of a crumpled heap and walked into the house, shaking off the pain of the fall. I looked at Zytharros, sleeping peacefully for the first time in days, surrounded by Sweetie Belle, who slept on his back, Rainbow Dash, who slept by his head, and Boomdrop, who had rested her head on his hip, would wake up to find her head under Sweetie Belle's tail. This caused a smile to form on my face, to see one of my best friends surrounded by his closest allies.

I looked around, temporarily confused between my two conflicting eyes. I shook my head to orientate my vision, then trotted into the kitchen to get myself a cup of coffee. Cheerilee was already up. She looked nervous as I entered.

"H-hello…" she said.

I could tell she was uncomfortable with my presence, so I tried to be as polite as I could.

"Hi, Cheerilee," I said, putting on a smile.

"Would you like something?" she asked.

I nodded. "Do you have any muffins?"

I felt really awkward in her house… I scratched an imaginary itch as she got my muffin for me, never taking her eyes off my eye.

I glared at her. "I know I have an odd eye, okay…"

"Well, Bright Eyes…" she started.

Incensed, I turned away. "Forget the muffin." She had used the single most derogatory thing I had heard in my entire life, and I didn't need that.

"Wait… Derpy!" she said, calling after me. "Can you at least tell me why you don't like that name? It seems like a good compromise to…"

I snorted. "I've been through that with Zytharros. Its well-meaning teachers like you I have to blame for all the teasing. That name… that… cursed name…" I looked at her, doing my best to express the pain that name caused me. "As a filly, when you have a wonky eye, do you think you'd like a name like Bright Eyes? That put the attention right here-" I indicated my bad eye "-and never let it leave."

Cheerilee gasped. "I… I didn't know…"

I sighed. "I know you didn't. Too many people don't even bother asking why I find it so offensive."

"I'm sorry…" she said apologetically. "What should I call you?"

"The name my mother gave me – Derpy Hooves," I said. "Even Ditzy Doo's fine. I don't want to hear Bright Eyes mentioned… _ever_… _again_." I made sure to add a little acid to the last two words to emphasize my point.

"Okay, Derpy," she said. She handed me the muffin. "You hungry?"

Still a little sore, I took the muffin and tried to smile. I could never express exactly how angry that name made me – even my outburst I had with Zytharros that one time was only about half the anger I felt. I decided to try and follow his example and forget about it. Ponies make honest mistakes, right? Besides, she didn't know the damage I had suffered at that name. I tossed back the muffin and smiled genuinely this time.

"Thank you," I replied.

I looked around at everypony sleeping. Rainbow Dash was missing, however. Curious as to where she had gone, I walked outside. I heard running water, so I looked around for a cloud shower. I had heard Rainbow liked to take one every morning. That reminded me - I hadn't had a bath in weeks. It might be good for me to take a shower, too.

Rainbow came around the corner. "Oh! Hey, Derpy! What's up?"

I smiled pleasantly. "Did you save any rainwater for me?"

"Oh… no, I didn't," she said. "Wait here. I'll get one for you."

She raced back to the sky and picked out a choice rain cloud. I was impressed at the quality she selected. It looked like one she would reserve for herself.

"Okay, now stand still…" she warned.

I spread my wings out and smiled as the rain came down. It felt as if all my worries suddenly washed away… Crystal Fist… the fact we needed to save four ponies… the knowledge I was in charge of a group that I had to earn the respect of… it didn't matter. That single shower really brightened my day. I transformed some of the rain into bubbles, watching them float up and away as I blew them clear of the other raindrops. Bubbles always made me happy… their carefree floating and incredibly delicate nature always absorbed my worries and carried them away.

The water stopped.

"You good?" Dash asked, peering out over the edge of the cloud. "There's still a little left in here."

"I'm okay." I nodded, smiling and shaking my body dry. "Nice work, Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow and I trotted inside the house. The place was beginning to bustle with activity. Boomdrop and Razortongue were saying their good-mornings to each other. Emerald Thunder, Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle were tending to the sick blue stallion. Rainbow Dash busied herself with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.

I smiled and cleared my throat. Instantly all eyes were on me… after Zytharros began calling for people to pay attention. He seemed to be able to think today. Our enemy, Crystal Fist, wasn't hitting him as hard as she had in the past. Maybe she was tired? Anyway, I addressed the assembled crowd standing before me, refocusing on the talk I needed to give.

"Today, we start looking for the remaining bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I know half of you don't respect me as a leader, and I know I certainly don't respect myself. I hope I can become the leader Zytharros said I could be, and that I can count on all of you for support. Now, I need to know for sure who's coming with me. Please speak your name, and if you are. Let's start over here-" I indicated Razortongue, on the far left side of the room, sweeping my arm left to right "-and go that way."

"Razortongue, reporting for duty." She gave me a rather dramatic salute.

"Boomdrop is a go." A nod from the black and purple pegasus.

"Emerald Thunder, watching Zytharros." That dopey smile and squeaky voice… Personally, I was a little glad I would be rid of it for a while, at least. That stallion was a stallion of most dramatic contradictions.

"Zytharros, staying back to recover." The blue once-alicorn-now-Earth-pony nodded to me. "I wish I could help further."

"Scootaloo!" "Apple Bloom!" "Sweetie Belle!"

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders are a go!" they shouted together, almost as if it had been choreographed.

"Two on the road…" Scootaloo and Apple Bloom said.

"…And one at home base!" Sweetie Belle declared.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders, in your face!" they shouted again.

The room ascended into uproarious laughter at the cuteness of the cheer. It was so nice to laugh again. It had been ages since I had felt it so genuinely within this group. A smile exploded onto my visage. The laughing lasted for a few minutes before the declarations continued.

"Rainbow Dash, ready for duty!"

"Fluttershy, staying behind to help any way I can!" she said, stomping a hoof in emphasis.

Suddenly, Canuck Chuck busted through the door. "I found a Shadow!"

The doorway exploded as a shadow with a wild mane and tail cackled, pelting the room with all manner of sweets. Canuck Chuck flew into me, knocking me straight into Sweetie Belle and Zytharros. The filly unicorn shrieked, the blue stallion groaned and Canuck Chuck got the wind knocked out of him.

It figured that he, a young colt, would find Pinkie Pie first.

"Who's ready for sweets!" an evil-sounding Pinkie Pie shouted. She sprayed the entire inside of Cheerilee's house with something that looked like a cupcake-firing AK-47.

...Guns are a secret passion of mine. I blame the Ponynet…

She cackled again as our team quickly reacted. Once he got his breath back and snacked on three conveniently-aimed treats, Canuck Chuck swiftly disarmed her of her gun. However, he quickly found himself outmatched by her illogical behaviour… especially her "Infinite Twos" punch.

"I put two and two and two and two…" she cackled hysterically as Canuck Chuck endured a barrage of punches nopony could track. "…two and two and two and two…"

Apple Bloom leapt and head-butted Canuck Chuck out of the way, taking a few hits herself, but eventually passing through the cloud of hooves.

"…through your FACE…" the crazy shadow shouted, giving Apple Bloom a final pound to the back of the head "…then a rear leg through your GUT!"

She kicked Apple Bloom into the ceiling. The poor filly put a massive hole through the roof. The shadowy Pinkie Pie cackled even louder as she turned her attention to the rest of us, shrapnel from the roof crashing down all around us.

And yet, she couldn't physically hit any of us.

She swung for Boomdrop… missed. She tackled Sweetie Belle… missed. She tried to kick Zytharros… missed again.

We all discovered then what to look for when attacking a Shadow, and Canuck Chuck wasted no time in acting. Canuck Chuck flashed out of the room as Pinkie Pie tried attacking people without her cupcake gun. It was futile. She collapsed on the ground and cried, both in anger and sadness, just as Canuck Chuck arrived with an unconscious Apple Bloom.

It was now or never. I activated the bubble technique and linked Apple Bloom with Pinkie Pie. The shadowy mare froze. Canuck Chuck dropped Apple Bloom. I began hovering a bit as my mind prepared to once again become the battleground for a war that could save a friend's life. Slowly my vision deteriorated to a point of blackness, then what sounded like a door opening signified a change in scenery.

The purple field opened as if two doors were thrown open. A deep yellow ball, a bright pink ball, and a single black ball materialized. I could tell Apple Bloom was terrified out of her mind. Her ball wasn't moving.

"Apple Bloom!" I called to her.

"Derpy!" she screamed.

Her ball moved to me as the black ball turned around. As quick as a flash, it struck her hard, sending the ball rolling. I growled.

"Stay away from Apple Bloom!" I shouted. The young filly had been the only one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to really get to know me on our journey, and for that she held a special place in my heart.

I struck at the black ball, knocking it back. I discovered something else with that hit – that the one who was supposed to battle the demon inside a friend was the only one who could do significant damage. Unfortunately, I had engaged foolishly in a battle that was never mine.

In short order, I was chased around my own mind, terrified of that blackness.

"Apple Bloom!" I screeched.

She finally stood up. "Derpy! What do I do! Where am I?"

"You're in my mind! You need to destroy this black thing chasing me to save Pinkie Pie!" I shouted. "Help me!"

"How?" she shouted back.

"Will yourself at it!" I said. "Just fight it! Think about Pinkie Pie and her safety! Think what you want to do!"

A few more minutes of running around had me tuckered right out, so I collapsed to the floor of my mind. I folded my forelegs over my eyes and braced for a hit that never came. I heard some young grunting and demonic howling. A couple minutes after I was sure it still wasn't after me, I peeked out of my admittedly pathetic fortress and looked at the battlefield… and what I saw utterly shocked me.

Apple Bloom was laying waste to the shadow!

Her body had taken on the shape of a full-grown mare with a bow. She was feeding off her friend's anguish and furthering her rage with it. It appeared like she was performing her Kung Fu moves she had learned from Rainbow Dash nearly three years prior as part of discovering her cutie mark. I had overheard she was no good at it from Applejack, but that didn't matter in the soul universe, apparently.

Another swift kick and the black mass flew my way. I quickly made a deft leap towards it and volleyed it back at Apple Bloom. We played keep-up with the ball for a while, toying with the enemy, before Apple Bloom finally eliminated the threat. It exploded into the air.

I immediately recognized the pattern. It would head for Zytharros!

"Oh, no you don't…" I said menacingly.

I leapt for the slowly-vanishing blob as it attempted to transcend dimensions out of Pinkie Pie's mind. I captured what I could.

"Apple Bloom! One last hit should shatter it!" I shouted.

She leapt for the apparition, her hooves at the ready to deliver a fatal blow to the evil darkness. Soon, Pinkie Pie leapt up, right alongside her.

"That meanie's not getting the best of Pinkie Pie again!" she shouted.

With a loud, unified shriek, both Apple Bloom and Pinkie Pie pierced the heart of the shadow as I held it. The shadow writhed and foamed, misting in disjointed chaos. I closed my eyes as it deflated like a balloon, carrying me around my mental arena at a billion miles an hour, eventually causing me to crash into the ground and roll seven or eight times at high speed. I also bounced off a wall…

I didn't realize minds _had_ walls. I knew that they had floors from when I tried saving my grandma from death. When I finally let her go I had fallen and hurt myself pretty badly. But walls? When did this wall get built? It looked like the horizon went on forever…

I stood up and shook my head. Soon Apple bloom tapped my flank. I turned and blinked – I could've sworn she was on the other side of my mind… but whatever. I joined her and walked to Pinkie Pie's soul, who hovered in place.

For a second, I forgot what I was supposed to do. It came back to me soon enough. I sent Apple Bloom back without an explanation and nodded to Pinkie Pie.

"You want to get back into control, don't you?" I asked.

She whined, "That meanie-pants took me out of my own body! I want my body back! I want to make ponies smile again…"

"Then follow me," I said.

I walked out of my mind onto a plane of pink frosting, spiraling upward to a diamond-encased Pinkie body. Miscellaneous sweet foodstuffs of all sorts rained down the inside of this sphere, and happy faces orbited the cupcakes. Just _being_ in Pinkie's mind increased my happiness!

This meant the mind had a ceiling as well… Just how high up it went, though, I doubt I would ever find out.

Slowly she ascended the spiral without me. I knew now her soul could find its way back on its own without my help, so I smiled and slowly withdrew to my own mind, pulling myself up and out of the bubble technique. As I did, I watched soul and body meet, eye-to-eye like old friends. They locked lips, and the soul was absorbed back into the body. The crystal shattering was the last thing I observed before fully re-entering my own form in a blaze of white light.

When I came to, I realized every pony there stood at attention around me, especially the unicorns. They had a billion questions in their mind. I realized I had a lot of explaining to do, being a pegasus fully in control of a potentially devastating, intimidating, awe-inspiring, and completely unique type of magic.

The magic

of soul-manipulation.


	3. Blowing Bubbles

_Blowing Bubbles_

"Okay, so what was that?" Rainbow Dash demanded. "You just started glowing freakily."

I blushed. "It's something my grandma taught me."

"Only unicorns can use magic," Boomdrop said. "How did you gain the ability?"

A thousand questions of a similar nature were thrown at me. I was getting stressed, unable to think or do anything to respond.

Panic had obviously taken shape in my eyes when Sweetie Belle screamed, "Quiet!"

Zytharros nodded at the filly, who nodded back. They both turned to me and smiled. I blushed, smiling my thanks in return, and continued.

"It was about ten years ago…"

_A little gray-and-blonde filly was blowing bubbles in the backyard, passing time as she waited for her mother to come home from work. She had had a rough day. Once again, her classmates had picked on her for her eye… not to mention she was one of only two blank flanks left in the class – she and her best friend and fierce defender Applejack. She had told Applejack she wouldn't be able to join the meeting of the Society of the Seekers that day, to which the orange and blonde filly also admitted she wouldn't be able to attend because of some family business in Manehattan. The third member of their team, a black unicorn with a silver mane striped with green and a cutie mark involving a green tree by the name of Tempo Dreck, seemed disappointed, but they all went their own ways regardless._

Apple Bloom snickered. "My sister was in a secret society, too!"

_So there she was: blowing bubbles in the backyard and getting lost in their hovering. Mom wouldn't be home for a couple hours, and Grandmare was supposed to have arrived sometime today towards early evening to stay for a week. It came as a surprise to the young filly, though, when she heard a voice calling over the fence._

"_Are there any bubbles left for me?" the creaky voice called._

_The little filly turned her head to look at the newcomer. "Grandmare!" she shouted happily._

"_Derpy, my little bubble!" she said. "How have you been?"_

I'm not gonna tell them she called me Bright Eyes… it's too painful a memory…

_They embraced in a loving hug, then spent the next three hours blowing bubbles, waiting for the matriarch of the house to return. They talked about a number of things, but soon Grandma's mood darkened._

"_What's wrong, Grammy?" Derpy asked._

_She smiled. "I have a gift for you. Come here."_

_They walked out to the middle of the backyard._

"_Stand there," Grandmare said._

_So the filly obeyed her grandmother. She stood directly opposite her senior. To her surprise, her grandmother glowed. The young pegasus had yet to have experienced anyone else other than a unicorn without magic. What surprised her even more was she began to glow as well._

Nope… not gonna tell 'em about Bright Eyes…

_In an instant, they were transported to a weird place that made no sense. There were two balls on a plane of crystal. The sky was a vibrant shade of yellow, pierced occasionally with spires of white. Her senses were heightened to a point where they no longer felt her own, that she was controlled by the world around her._

_The filly was never so terrified in her life._

_Soothing warmth calmed her a little, and she turned to see another filly - no, a full-grown mare - standing before her, eye-to-eye. She vaguely recognized her own grandma, though her hair was no longer gray and her face was not pitted with the wrinkles of time. She was as she had looked as a young mare, so vibrant and full of life, her pale gray hair and deep-yellow body vibrating with highly-excitable energy._

"_What you see now is the plane of souls," she said, speaking in the same voice the wall-eyed filly remembered, minus the scratchiness the years had cut into her vocal cords. "This is the secret of our ancestors."_

_Derpy had a confused look in her eyes._

"_The secret is the skill to defend the souls of those we care about. It's a skill passed down through our family tree, exclusive to our line of the Hooves," her grandma said, walking around and allowing the filly to become accustomed to moving in the environment she was in. "There are two other skills that have passed through our line – the ability to time-travel, which your eccentric uncle, the one who calls himself the 'Doctor'… you remember him, don't you? The one with the hourglass on his flank... possesses, and the ability to pass dimensions. The last hasn't been seen since the fallout two groups of our ancestors had years ago."_

_Derpy walked in silence alongside her elder._

"_I want you to have this skill, my bright eyed grandchild."_

Horse apples… I told 'em.

_Standing in absolute shock, Derpy panicked. She didn't know what she was getting into… she didn't know what was happening… didn't really care… but…_

"_It's okay, child…" her grandmare said, taking the little pegasus under her wing. "I'll help you understand this ability."_

_So, for the next week after school and homework, her grandma trained her in the operations of the skill, taking time off to blow bubbles in between. She grew to value that moment during that time, deeper than any other moment that week. Her classmates picking on her… the fact she didn't have a cutie mark… the eventual disbandment of the Society of the Seekers and the loss of Tempo Dreck as a friend as the colt moved to Baltimare and Applejack to Manehattan… it all faded when in the presence of her grandmare blowing bubbles with her._

_Then, the world came to an unexpected, crashing downfall._

_The night before Grandma was supposed to leave, Derpy was awoken to sirens leaving their house. She snuck out of her room, looking at her mother Slipsy Hooves and asked her what went wrong. Without understanding, she knew at once what had happened: something evil was attacking her grandmother's mind! She had to use her new skill to save her! She fled out the door, running as fast as her little legs would carry her. Eventually, her muscles burned, thighs ached, legs fought against her will, but she refused to cave. That little pony ran as fast and as hard as she could, all the way from her house to the hospital on the other side of Ponyville like a bat out of Tartarus._

_Eventually, she made it. She snuck in just as the hospital closed its doors for the night. She made her way, tired, achy and sore, up to the third floor. Scanning the rooms and avoiding the occasional security guard, she eventually found her grandma – and the sight terrified her._

_She wasn't good at counting yet… the slowest in the class, according to the teacher… but she estimated about twenty one-hundreds of pipes, needles, and mechanical devices were strapped to her grandma. She knew there was no time to waste – she activated her family's bubble technique and dove into her grandma's mind._

_The place was no longer friendly._

_A mare floated in a crystal, high above the cracking platform. Another mare, the spirit of her Grandma, was smiling in front of the body. The sky was slowly disintegrating to blackness._

"_Grandmare!" Derpy shouted. "Grandmare! I'm here to save you!"_

_Without a word to her granddaughter, the mare kissed the figure in the crystal and slowly began ascending into the sky. The platform slowly disintegrated. Derpy leapt for the soul, catching on. She began ascending with her into the sky._

"_Where are you going? What's going on? Why are you leaving me?"_

_The mare began fading. Derpy's grip began failing… and then failed entirely, her hooves passing through the mare she loved and respected most, sending the filly plummeting to the ground. The crystal faded into black as she landed on the last of the platform standing._

_The lone bubble on the only place of light in the now-void mind sobbed. Steadily, she removed herself from her grandma's mind to be met by three doctors, astonished that a pegasus was using magic… but the young filly, broken by the pain of loss, didn't speak. She simply walked out, sobbing._

_She went home, and ignoring her mother's scolding, went up to her room, pulled out a small flask of unicorn-infused bubble-making tonic, and began to use it to form bubbles. She robotically used up the entire tonic in minutes. She pulled out a second bottle… used that up, too. She pulled up the first bottle, thinking it was a full third bottle, got frustrated when no bubbles formed and threw it with all her might across the room. It hit a mirror, shattering the glass._

_Just like her grandma had shattered her now-fractured heart._

_Hearing the shattered glass, Slipsy entered her room at a breakneck speed. At first, she had a flurry of questions, but when she saw her daughter's state, she forgot them all, walked up and wrapped her in the soothing embrace of a mother's hug._

"_Why did Grandmare have to d-d… d-d-die?" Derpy sobbed into her mother's chest._

"_Derpy…" her mother said softly. "It's okay. She's just sleeping."_

_Derpy shook her head. "Mom, d-don't lie to me. She's dead… I s-saw her leave her b-body."_

"_How!" she said, sure it was just her child's wild imagination._

_All Derpy replied with was "The family technique."_

_Her mom went silent. She looked at her daughter. "Did Grandma…"_

_The shaking, sad filly nodded. "She t-taught me before she…"_

_Derpy broke down into another wave of crying._

_Her mother looked over her daughter, settling her into bed as she did so._

"_She taught us so much," her mother said, tears breaking through the normally-stoic mare's beautiful, Rarity-esque eyes. "She even gave you your cutie mark as a farewell gift."_

_Derpy jolted up. She kicked off the blanket and looked over at her flank. Seven bubbles emanating vertically from her knees filled what was a blank flank not five minutes earlier. Derpy's face broke into a wild, tear-filled smile. One last, good cry drained her of her energy for the night, after which she settled down for a good sleep._

"_Mommy?" Derpy said._

"_Yes, dear?" Slipsy asked._

"_Let's go blow some bubbles tomorrow," Derpy said with a smile, "for Grandmare."_

_Slipsy smiled her world-famous model's smile and replied, "Let's."_

"For Grandmare…" I repeated to myself, losing my mind in the panels of the ceiling and shedding a small tear down my cheek.

The tale ended there. The room was ghostly silent as I returned to look at my friends. Zytharros moved first. He got up and through a cloud of pain moved to my side to hug me, which I received gratefully. His ability to be compassionate always amazed me.

"I-I had no idea, Derpy…" Rainbow said, taken completely aback in shock. "Bright Eyes… that was the name your grandma called you."

"And it was turned into…" Cheerilee said, sniffling back tears and realizing what, exactly, that name meant to me. "Oh, princesses… I'm so terribly awfully completely sorry…"

I wiped a tear from my eye with a forehoof as Pinkie also approached for a hug. One by one, each pony present had their turn. Even Razortongue, to my surprise and bewilderment, speechlessly offered one to me when we had finished. Eventually, everyone offered a hug of his or her own.

I had made the right decision to tell them.

A few minutes of silence emerged, my story weighing heavily on everyone's mind. Pinkie looked around, trying to figure out what would make everyone happy, like usual.

"We need a new base," she said, full of the same excitable energy we were used to. "Let's move this party to Sugarcube Corner! There's plenty of room for all of us, we can get Cheerilee's house repaired, and we can form some strategies for taking down that… that evil knievel meanie-pants!"

There was unanimous approval from all of us. While we walked out the door, she proceeded to walk up the wall, on the roof, and out the hole in the ceiling, leaping down, puffing out her hair, and gliding effortlessly down to the doorway of the sweet shop, all the while giggling to herself about… whatever was normally on Pinkie's mind.

I smiled. That was one mare who _always_ made anypony feel welcome.

Just like Grandmare.


	4. Redefining the Triforce

_Redefining the Triforce_

Thirty minutes of moving carts, bodies, and other things later, we were in Sugarcube Corner. The shop had been dusty for several weeks. The Cakes hadn't returned to Ponyville in time to inhabit their shop before the barrier fell, so for the last few months the food on the shelves had grown mouldy, rotten and disgusting. It all had to be removed and cleaned.

Pinkie's heart seemed to shatter at the thought of all the delectable sweets now ruined by the neglect of their creators' absence, though she quickly recovered as she usually did, realizing it would be far more fun to make a new, fresh batch and helped with their removal. Some of the ingredients had spoiled as well, but Pinkie Pie, as always, had the most illogical methods I could think of to store stashes of stuff all over the building. We cleared out a lot of her hiding places, including some places she swore she had forgotten about years ago, yet the stuff inside was sometimes fresher than when she claimed she got it…

…but that's just Pinkie Pie for you. It was still a little… bewildering, to say the least.

Within the remainder of the hour, we were using the stuff sometimes dated nearly a year old to bake a bevy of delectable confections. In fact, we spent the majority of the day stocking up for an extended hole-up in the confectionery. Rainbow initially told me to sit and do nothing, but Zytharros quickly requested my help and involved me in a couple recipe-gathering gigs. He told me to cover my eye with an eye patch to help me focus, and from there I was able to help without many distractions…

…though I thoughtlessly did eat a couple muffins when they first came out… I love muffins! It's a bad addiction! I'm sorry!

Anyway, in a matter of hours, we had restocked and fixed up the shop. We also noticed some black-cloaked ponies from in town enter Sugarcube Corner to buy some of our baked goods like they had before Crystal Fist's attack. It was sparse, but we gladly sold some of our merchandise like we had. We had to tell them to keep it quiet we had reopened, though, which was a downer. We didn't want Crystal Fist getting any ideas.

Later that night, as everyone drifted off to sleep, I saw Zytharros creep outside and lie in front of Sugarcube Corner. The night watch was Rainbow Dash that night, but he wasn't going to talk to her. He had this odd habit of going out into the night and talking to himself… kind of like I did with my grandma, except it was to a pony he referred to as "my Hero". He mentioned all of us by name, talking earnestly about our skills. After listening to him for a while, even shedding some tears at the touching things he was saying about each of us, he finally got to me.

"…may Derpy be given Your blessed wisdom as she leads those I had the opportunity to lead when I'm taken by the enemy," he was saying to this unknown pony. "I know she's a klutz, but You have never failed in placing the right person… or, in this world, pony… at the helm at the right time, no matter what their flaws were. I pray you'll give her the wisdom, courage, and fortitude to serve in this capacity like I was blessed with. May You also put Your hand of protection… t-uh… arounnxznxnzsnnxznnz…"

He winced as a new wave of pain took over his body. The evil within had continued its offensive.

"My will is weak, Lord… please… help…"

He fought in his own mind for a few minutes, resisting every urge to collapse like he was battling two trains while being trampled by a Wonderbolt Derby. I bit my lip, fighting my desire to leap out and try the bubble technique again. I knew it wouldn't help, so I stood, helpless, shedding tears of anguish for my friend, feeling every ounce of his pain as if it were my own. Eventually, after seven-and-a-half excruciating minutes, he settled back down, continuing his… what did he call it… pray-ing… -er… pray-thing…?

"May you also put Your hand of protection over her, leading her hooves, mind, and body to where You want this crew to go…"

I crept outside, letting him finish the passionate, one-sided conversation

.

"I didn't know you cared so much," I said when he had finished.

He jumped, then, turning and realizing it was me, he chuckled a little and let a breath escape. "Oh, Derpy! Thank Celestia it was you!"

He patted a seat beside him on the doorstop. I took up a lying position beside him and smiled.

"Who were you talking to, anyway?" I asked.

He looked up at the stars. "My Hero, the one I trust for my salvation when I die."

"Celestia takes care of that," I said matter-of-factly. I mean, _all_ ponies are accompanied by Celestia to the afterlife, aren't they? "You'll go with Celestia when you die to… wherever it is ponies go."

Zytharros chuckled. "Remember, Derpy, I'm not a pony by nature."

"Oh, right," I said, remembering the conversation from a while back, "Celestia summoning you to Earth and all that. It's kinda hard to remember that after you've been a pony for so long."

Zytharros nodded. "I operate under a different set of afterlife rules than you do, though the same basic rules are still the same."

I looked at him curiously. "So, who controls your afterlife?"

He looked back up at the stars. "The belief is a fragmented one among humans, mainly because as a collective race we're not sure. Some believe in a higher power, like a god, nature, or the stars themselves. Even other humans are elevated by myth and legend to this level at times. Others believe in the complete absence of said power, or even any afterlife at all, and that we make our own way until we die. It's generally accepted that it is a personal choice."

He shifted his focus to me again. "As for myself, I believe in God, and that this God has a Son who He sent to Earth to redeem me from whatever I do to offend Him. His power works through the Earth as his Holy Spirit."

He drew three triangles in the earth, with one stacked on top a pair, then a larger triangle around the rest. He roughed up the dirt in the middle triangle.

"This is a symbol often called a 'triforce' in a game I used to play," he said. "You can see three triangles here, but they combine to form one, large triangle. Each piece plays a part in the overall whole. Here's what it's come to mean to me…"

He tapped the upper triangle. "The Father provides the judgment and jury, the rules and the regulations, and the law of all lands."

He tapped the left lower triangle. "The Son provides the love and care, and executes the will of the Father obediently."

He tapped the right lower triangle. "The Spirit is the pure and unfettered power of God, granted and removed as He sees fit to and from whomever He desires."

He re-outlined the three triangles. "This is the Trinity of my One God – a god that knows community within Himself."

"How can someone be three, and still be one?" I asked.

"Look at the picture again," he said. "Three triangles placed this way form a larger triangle – a complete triangle. In this way, the three pieces of the God I believe in form together to make one complete being."

"Oh! So it's like if Celestia, Luna, and Cadence transformed into triangles, if you stuck them like this, you would have the royalty of Canterlot!" I exclaimed. "…But what's this fourth triangle for?" I asked, indicating the one in the middle – the upside-down one made by the two converging, supporting triangles at the bottom. "Is there a fourth piece?"

"I like to interpret that space in the drawing as a representation of a visually-irrepresentable thing He makes Himself – pure, virgin, untamed love," Zytharros said. "Nothing can exist between these three except love – and that love is open for all to take. That is what drives me, and what I will strive to represent until the day I die – the concern for the welfare of all mankind… and all pony-kind."

He suddenly stomped a hoof in adamant pain, but it was a different kind of pain than before, almost a longing, bleeding pain of sorrow. "If it were up to me, no person on Earth or in Equestria would go hungry, thirsty, broke, or without the necessary help they need! If I had the resources, that is where I would be! That is where I _strongly_ believe we are all called to be, both as pony-kind and as humankind – linking arms or legs with each other and giving help where we can. Anyone who subverts this basic rule of life utterly destroys themselves bit-by-bit."

I noted very quickly he was completely uninterrupted by Crystal Fist in this state, full of fire and vigor and without any other thoughts on his mind.

He sighed after the animated tirade. "…But that's not the common thought among many people. A lot of us try to play god and crush everyone else along their path, whether subtly or in an in-your-face kind of way. Those that can help are sometimes waylaid by those that don't want them to help or want to use their assistance for personal gain – and that is severely disappointing. However, like the choice to believe in a god or not, it is a personal choice whether someone helps or hinders their fellow man or pony."

He looked at me once again, a laser-like intensity and deep fire filling his eyes. "I do my best to do what I can where I can for who I can out of thankfulness to my God, so I can show the same love given to me. If I stop trying my best to do that, I think I would just give up and die… maybe not physically, but certainly emotionally and empathetically, and that is something I just cannot allow."

I don't think I could ever understand the depths of his feelings, but I felt the love of his words. It wasn't just for me – he genuinely cared about every pony, human, plant and animal on both his world and ours. It seemed like he would prefer to have loved and been betrayed than to never have loved at all. I could see the wisdom in that. That way you would know for sure if the person respected you for who you are.

I smiled coyly at him, not understanding completely, but understanding enough to develop a serious respect for his beliefs and thoughts. This time, as I turned my head, I allowed my focus to come from my odd eye as I examined him, hopefully without him knowing. He was a little over average height for a stallion and broad, with a bone structure like a brick backhouse – not quite as large as, but very Big Mac-ish in size and build. It was obvious he wasn't using his body to its full potential – he had a little bit of chub around his midsection. His mane and tail were loose and free, almost coltish in appearance, but kept neat enough to look mature.

I smirked as he examined the night sky. There was no way he could've-

"Derpy, why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

Bewildered and caught off-guard, I jerked my head away. "Um… nothing… uh… I-I…"

He just chuckled. "You would've gotten away with it if I didn't notice your head drifting downward. Your eyes were heading to my flank, weren't they?"

I blushed. "N-no… they-um… I… uh-just…"

Rainbow called from the sky, "Forget it, Derpy. Spare yourself the heartache. Both Applejack and I have tried to offer ourselves to him, and he won't take either of us."

I felt myself blush. Soon, Dash was in front of us, kicking up dust as she landed.

"You know why, Dash," Zytharros said. "I'm married."

"Yeah, yeah…" Dash replied, her tone of voice suggesting a little annoyance, peppered with a sense of disappointment.

"How was night watch?" Zytharros asked.

"Not bad," Dash replied, "but I don't know anything about where Applejack is. I've looked over at Sweet Apple Acres, the school-house, Rarity's shop… everywhere I could think of for Applejack to hang out, and no sign of her Shadow anywhere."

I still couldn't bring myself to look at Zytharros again. I was very embarrassed that he had picked up on my ogling. Even though I had done it to countless other ponies, he was the first one in my life to observe it.

He continued, sounding downcast. "Not good. Let's head over there anyway tomorrow. She may appear when we show up."

"So, Derpy, you're here to take over the rest of the night?" Dash asked.

I jerked my head up straight, clearly confused. Was it my turn to watch? Was it my night? I forgot… sweet Celestia, I forgot…

"Uh… yeah," I simply said, still shocked at the absence of memory.

"Great!" Dash said, grinning wildly. "I need to sleep."

So Dash and Zytharros entered the house together. I took off and flew to the top of the house, settling down on Sugarcube Corner's roof for a night of watching for enemies.

None of us noticed the shadow slip into the confectionery while we were talking.


	5. Redirection

_Redirection_

Just as the sun arose the next morning, a piercing scream jolted me out of a zoned state. Suddenly, I saw a shadow bolt from the bakery, seeming like its' tail was on fire. It took off into the sky with a powerful flap of its wings. A sure-hoofed, bright-green Earth pony followed suit, beating the ground in a merciless retreat.

Emerald Thunder! What was he doing?

Another scream had me leaping off the roof and barreling into the confectionery. In the middle of the room a Shadow with a Stetson hat had Boomdrop pressed against the wall. Everyone else was incapacitated, and Emerald Thunder and Zytharros were nowhere to be found. Cheerilee was missing, too.

"Applejack!" I shouted. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Jus' showin' this criminal some of the tough love we have around these parts…" the Southern-slanged mare threatened.

She slugged the black and purple pegasus-zebra across the face. I leapt for Shadowjack and tackled her, sending each of us careening into a display shelf. The shelf collapsed on top of us. I was shielded by the shadow of Applejack who had taken the brunt of the damage, so I wriggled my way free. The corporeal shadow pony struggled to free herself from her prison. Apparently, she was still very new to the form's magical capabilities – she should've been able to get out of that trap simply by becoming a shadow in the floor.

"What the heck happened?" I asked.

Boomdrop growled. "Emerald Thunder's betrayed us. He led Shadowjack to our hideout and helped her take over Zytharros' body."

I growled furiously. _Nobody_ betrays me! The rest of the crew was cowering in a corner as Boomdrop and I stared Applejack down.

"Use your bubble technique!" Boomdrop ordered.

I shocked back into focus and closed my eyes, concentrating.

"No, you don't," Applejack said.

Several loud screams, some fearful, one violent, preceded a ferocious, crushing, massive blow against my body. It sent me, spinning, rolling, and tumbling towards the pile of friends. Before I connected, an unknown force swept in and redirected the object away from me. The loud grunt and the cracking of wood and shattering of glass identified who saved me as Canuck Chuck and the large weapon in question as a display case. I rolled a ways, my head softly landing between a filly's hind legs. I shook and shivered for a brief second before awakening to a cacophonic backdrop of fighting and grunting, supplied by Boomdrop and Applejack, I looked up. I was resting between Apple Bloom's legs. I quickly got up and apologized before diving back into the fray. As I ran, I generated the bubble technique. However, Applejack noticed again, so right when I got to the middle of activating the technique I received a quick and surprising buck to the face. I flipped and tumbled into the counter with the cash register.

"Oh, this is just…" I muttered, twitching my muzzle and feeling the blood run down my face.

Full of rage, I erupted in a loud scream. The bubble technique's magic exploded from deep within me in a flash of white flame, encasing my entire body. Quickly, I captured Boomdrop, in the middle a kick that would've connected solidly with her foe's head, and Applejack, preparing a rushed defense of the oncoming kick that would have been too late, in it and sent them deep into my mind. This time, the entry was like glass shattering. The blackness fell away quite quickly, revealing the purple essence of Boomdrop and two black spirits entangled in the same fight as before, but this time, engaged alongside them, was a third darkness and the orange life-force of the ever-ornery and ever-lively Applejack.

Boomdrop was quite the fighter anyway, but to take the battle to a… I guess 'soulecular' level… that just enhanced her skills to an almost whimsical amount. On our journey back to Ponyville Zytharros had told me about two tales of two different fighters, one named Goku from a saga about 'dragon balls', the other named Neo from a place called the 'Matrix'. Boomdrop was fighting as if she was both of them, delivering full hoof-punches, kicks, bucks, tackles, and dive-bombs in such array and speed it felt like I was simply watching a black and purple line dart across the sky, occasionally connecting with the blackness in flashes of powerful explosions and battling with limbs of light. The cloud-like patterns stirred up by the flying purple buzzsaw known as Boomdrop served as a deadly weapon in their own right as they caught the blistering tailwinds behind the pegasus once known as 'Purple Ghost' and pelted her other opponent with the sharp, powdery residue.

_Go, Boomdrop,_ I thought. I wasn't getting within three _miles_ of that battle.

Applejack, although nowhere near as good a fighter as Boomdrop, fought with all her spirit against her opponent. She wasn't as fast or as graceful, but all her moves were getting what needed to be done accomplished. Occasionally she would look over at Boomdrop, pick up a move or three, and begin incorporating them into her own fight with mixed results for a time, but soon they had been assimilated seamlessly and she continued battling with the stamina of a stubborn mule. With the power of a dozen years of apple-bucking and heavy farm work behind her, her attacks had double the force behind them as Boomdrop's did.

About five minutes later, one of Boomdrop's clouds blew up and tried attacking her. I dove at the cloud at that point, tore it off her with a loud grunt, and gave her the assistance necessary to cleanly destroy the enemy by restraining the cloud as she delivered the deathblow to its' core. She then turned her attention to her final opponent, which she dispatched without much trouble. It wasn't long afterwards that Applejack's enemy, too, was vanquished.

After a few seconds of rejuvenating rest, letting the adrenaline subside, we looked at each other and smiled.

"Damn," Boomdrop said. "I've gotten rusty."

Applejack, Boomdrop and I laughed. I was just about to send Boomdrop back, when Applejack stopped me. She implored me to let her say her piece, and I relented, allowing Boomdrop to remain.

"I wanna thank ya fer savin' me," Applejack said. "I was havin' a heckuva time with those jerks. They'da gone an' locked my mind up from me, an' I was at the edge of my rope fightin' them to regain control. If it wasn't for y'all, I…" A sniffle from the proud Earth pony… "I don't think I coulda lived with myself with what she was doin' with my good name."

Boomdrop smiled kindly. "You're welcome. You should be thanking Derpy, though. She's the one who got me in here."

"Derpy!" Applejack exclaimed. "The Derpy with the…"

"The same," I said before she continued.

Applejack laughed heartily. "Well I'll be! Then I thank y'all as well, Derpy. I knew I felt somethin' special about you when I knew you as a li'l ol' filly. Now I know what it was. Now, get me back in control so I can help y'all kick some Crystal Fist flank!"

I nodded. Turning to Boomdrop, I smiled. "I'm sorry, but I can't complete the rites without disconnecting you from her body. I need my full power to do this."

Boomdrop nodded. "Do what you must."

So I sent Boomdrop back. Applejack and I conversed as we walked between minds, entering a mind filled with apple trees and pony-sized versions of various apple-based recipes. Apple quarters rained from the sky, and the earth was formed into the shape of her old hat, warm to the touch like chocolate brownies. The whole place smelled of a freshly-baked just-half-a-second-out-of-the-oven apple pie. It made me quite hungry.

In the middle of the field, unlike all the others, was a simple farm house instead of a crystal-encased pony form.

"I think I can find my way home from here," she said, breaking into a full gallop and disappearing into the house with a shout. "Thank y'all greatly!"

I smiled, allowing my magic to slip away and disappear. My mind and vision went blank just as the house became enveloped in white light, causing her spirit to fill the mind. In seconds, I awoke in my own body and Applejack reunited with friends and family. It was joyous and heart-warming.

But something still gnawed at us all.

I walked to the space Zytharros had once occupied one mere hour earlier. It was empty, save for Sweetie Belle, crying over where his head would have been. Eventually, we were all together, remembering the stallion that had once occupied this space. Applejack was brought up to speed shortly after, about the Guardians of Harmony, the sacrifices Zytharros had made, and the fact that Crystal Fist had now used her to bring him completely under her control.

Applejack was shattered.

She collapsed on the floor in tears, distraught that she had done yet another dark thing to a friend in need. This one hurt even more than before because she openly admitted her feelings for Zytharros to all of us, and even told us about the conversation they had shared a year ago about becoming sort of surrogate siblings. Everyone crowded around her, trying to console the work pony, but nothing was working.

Until Sweetie Belle sang a song Zytharros had taught her. (Pieces by Red)

Her voice filled the air quietly, building into the full-sized anthem of the original by the first chorus. The second verse had a smattering of light instruments and voices joining in. However, by the second chorus, everyone was participating, the remnants of Dashcore playing their instruments and Fluttershy filling in on bass. The sonic anthem rose higher and higher, filling not only the house they occupied but the block around. Passing through the bridge, everyone was harmonizing and playing, thrashing about and directing all their anger into straining voices for a final, piercing scream… then the final chorus repeat was quiet and _a capella_, ending the song intimately, where we all stopped and let Sweetie Belle once again take over.

Applejack's head slowly lowed as the snow-white filly's echoing voice faded into obscurity. Completely enraptured in the devastating honesty of the song compared with their situation, she found herself lost to its power. She was reinvigorated, her resolve restored, and her mind now acutely steeled against Crystal Fist and her demented power. Two final tears fell from her jaw line to the ground, joining their brethren in two small puddles at her feet.

"That's the last time she gets to my heart," Applejack said, slowly opening her eyes. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle."

Rarity's sister smiled through her own tears. The two shared what I thought was quite possibly the sweetest embrace I had ever seen between friends. Boomdrop joined in. Soon, we were all embracing in a giant group hug. When we released, Applejack looked back at the door, a fire so red it could've burned a hole through the wall coming from her eyes.

"Now that I'm free, I have some things I can tell y'all," she said. "First, the Emerald Thunder that brought me here's a Changeling, the only one of their swarm to survive Chrysalis' attack on Equestria. The real Emerald Thunder's still back in Fillydelphia somewhere, but that's okay. I don't think we'll need him for the final battle against Crystal Fist.

However, that witch's plan's almost complete. She's got Zytharros, and she's workin' hard on Celestia. We have to save Twili' and Rarity before she can crack the Princess. Otherwise we're all as good as dead – Equestria, Earth, and the rest of life itself. The first time she passed through was jus' a trial run. This time, she's serious. She ain't gonna stop 'til everythin' lies in ruins."

I nodded. "So we take off for Canterlot, then."

"Not yet," Applejack said. "We need two more pieces to the puzzle of the Guardians of Harmony."

"You mean Crystal Fist is aware of them?" Fluttershy asked, alarmed.

Applejack nodded. "Yes, sugarcube, she is."

"Two more pieces!" Scootaloo asked, bewildered. "But Apple Bloom, Derpy, and now Boomdrop are Guardians. That leaves only one more slot open for our group!"

"Sorry to blow your fuckin' minds, but… there are no fuckin' more from our group," Razortongue said. "I did a bit more research during that last fight. Derpy is Rainbow Dash's counterpart, I am Fluttershy's, Apple Bloom is fuckin' Pinkie Pie's, and Boomdrop is Applejack's. That leaves only Spirit and Cheer left for Generosity and Friendship, and if my theory is right none of us have the damn skills for those. What's shitty is that the damn spell that Crystal Fist put up can only be fuckin' passed by the Elements and the Guardians of Harmony when they all come together. In short, we have to find Twilight and Rarity's fuckin' companions _before we can even fight them_."

"Sweet Celestia!" Sweetie Belle said, mimicking exactly the tone her sister used when she was overwhelmed by the dramatic and about to faint.

"Well, since we passed the outer barrier, that would mean Spirit and Cheer are inside the dome, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.

I nodded. "That's safe to assume. I don't think she could bring us in here to split us up."

Boomdrop nodded. "True harmony's too powerful for her magic to split."

I sighed, turning to the white-and-red paint mare. "So, who do we have to find to complete the Guardians?"

Razortongue shrugged. "How the hell am I supposed to know?"

Suddenly, a voice from a back room… "I think I have the answer."

Cheerilee walked somberly into the room, carrying a large tome on her back. It was old. The engraved-wood cover had long become indecipherable, and only one gem remained of the twelve that used to rest in the pits on its' surface. The book was bound in magic and magic alone. No solid bindings could be found. Its' pages were old, yellowed, decayed, and some even had random rodent holes. As she cracked it open, we crowded around her to find out what she had discovered.

"I was flipping through my old family history last night and discovered something more about Cheer and Spirit," she said. "Cheer has always been a musical pony, one who's a little bit eccentric, quite dynamic, and easygoing. She's usually found at parties on-stage and often wields a particularly-large and bizarre sound-based weapon. The other, Spirit, is mismatched to her world. She's usually born of a rich, noble family, but she has the sensibilities of common ponies and very little desire to show off her wealth. In fact, whatever her race has been, she usually finds herself with a strong enjoyment of manual labour. Although her upbringing usually doesn't leave her very strong to start with, she can pick it up very, very quickly."

She flipped a couple more pages, then slapped a hoof on the book. "I didn't know that one of my ancestors had been a Guardian of Harmony in the past until I read this."

I put my eye patch on and began reading, sure to remove all distraction before focussing intently on what was in front of me. In the book, it described the Guardians and what traits they normally possessed. We realized what Razortongue had - that none of us had the skills or the qualifications to be Cheer or Spirit. The only one who came close to either was Sweetie Belle, and even she admitted she wasn't eccentric enough to be Cheer. Both Emerald Thunder and Keytap Sweethorn were outside the dome, so they were excluded.

We had a new direction. Before we could even enter Canterlot, we had to find these two missing pieces…

…but in a town of several thousand ponies, how were we going to find them?


	6. Human and Pony

_Human and Pony_

"Uhn… my head… What happened? It felt like I was run over by a bus…"

I groaned and opened my eyes to a black, stormy sky with lines of purple clouds roaming about. There was nothing else in the vicinity except the plane of light which I rested on. It was neither cold, nor warm, neither light, nor dark, neither happy nor sad. It was just… existence. The sum total of my surroundings left me wondering where I was.

One would think I would be surprised at my new surroundings, but in truth I wasn't in the least. I had a sneaking suspicion that the minds of Shadows would be of a similar nature. I had only ever seen inside the minds of Derpy and Rainbow Dash after we had cleared the darkness from Dash's mind, but I had a vivid imagination, and this was roughly what I had expected.

I tried to stand up as a pony would, but felt incredibly awkward as I did so. I sat back down and looked over my body. I had ten fingers, ten toes, legs, arms… I was human in spirit form, a gold-coloured silhouette of a naked man, minus any genitalia.

I stood as a human. My six-foot frame stretched, tall and strong, into the sky. There was no need to breathe here, but as I stretched I breathed deeply anyway, recalling what had happened to me. I didn't even really remember seeing anyone, just falling asleep and becoming consumed by five spirits of darkness. The last action I remember taking before slumber was explaining my beliefs to Derpy, and I knew she wouldn't do something like this to backstab me. Finishing my stretch, I ran my fingers through my hair as I began wandering around my new abode, readjusting to being a sentient, disembodied spirit, except this time moulded to that of my original form.

As I wandered, I realized there was quite literally nothing in this place. I sighed and began humming to myself. It wasn't a specific melody, just a random jumble of notes. I wandered for a good ten minutes, simply walking, trying to figure out where I was.

It was then I heard a faint voice, calling in the blackness.

"Who are you?" it asked.

I paused and turned my head. I could barely make it out, but I saw a grape coloured flicker in amongst the night sky. Part of it was flecked with pink, and that pink line was what allowed me to trace out a pony's silhouette in the darkness. My mind soon clued into what it was.

"Twilight Sparkle?" I asked.

"Zytharros!" the weak, reticent voice exclaimed as best it could. "You're… but, you're not…"

I shushed the pony-shaped silhouette and wrapped her in my arms. "It's okay… I'm here…"

"I'm so happy," Twilight said. "Finally – someone to talk to…"

Some warmth came from her and entered into my body. Her spirit pulsed for a bit, but soon dimmed down further and the warmth died.

"Shh…" I said, shushing her again. "You're very weak."

I imagined a yellow force field around us. To my surprise, it came to be.

"So I still have some control over my imaginary illusion pony power…" I realized as I held the little pony tightly, feeding her all the love I could give to regenerate her strength.

Now that I had a little bit of time to observe her vs. me, I was shocked at the small stature of her pony form compared to my human form. If I had to guess, I would've said I was a little taller than Princess Celestia, while Twilight's head reached the middle of my gut. She couldn't have been bigger than a fully-grown German shepherd. I had expected Twilight to be my height, and Celestia to dwarf me.

Then again, I do sometimes assume some things I shouldn't.

I imagined a more solid structure, enlarging the dome and creating a roughshod synthetic duplication of the innards of her tree house. Helping her into bed, I imagined a blanket, which I wrapped around her. I tried imagining some nourishment or something, but what I conjured up was only the image of solid food – a small plateful of sliced mangoes and a small bowl of miscellaneous grains. None of the flavour or nutrition necessary would be present. She would have to feed off me until she got healthy. Regardless, she still ate what I was able to create with my mind. It seemed to restore her strength a little. I wondered what could've done so… maybe it was the love in my heart.

"Thank you, Zytharros," she said weakly, though stronger than before. She placed a light kiss on my cheek.

I smiled kindly. I watched her fall asleep, her rhythmic pulsing slowly restoring her energy form to its' full shape. After making sure she was okay, I began refining the house. I wanted her to have a place where she could feel comfortable when she woke up in this place of dreary darkness, a fortress against the black hole that was our temporary home.

It was then I noticed the streams of gold.

Nothing but thin, filigree fingers, they reached out and enveloped Twilight, restoring her form faster than the food or the sleep. They were quietly emanating from me in the hundreds as I worked to restore some semblance of reality to her world. It was the love in my heart that was feeding her, manifesting itself in physical form.

I stopped working for a second and watched the strands of my life force… my love… work their magic. I allowed myself to become amazed in the patterns and light shows my soul created, trying to carry and support Twilight in her time of need.

Slowly I noticed dark purple fingers reach out to me, restoring some of my lost energy as well. Since she was asleep, I gathered she would not be doing this willingly, unless she was dreaming of me. It was a bond I would never forget – a bond deep enough it would lock our hearts together in a pact of sibling-hood forever. Neither of us had experienced anything like this with anyone else, nor would we ever again.

If I had tear ducts, I would've cried happily at the gorgeous patterns created as the two souls playfully danced their dance of life, appearing as a sea of dreams and memories when the filigrees danced together in just the right way.

I tore myself away from the scene that played out before me and began to work on the house again. I passed by a window. A single tuft of grass surrounding a beautiful red rose had blossomed outside, in the middle of the blackness, and the purple clouds were lifting.

I smiled.

This was so… awesome!


	7. What Have We Done?

_What Have We Done?_

We spent the next few days trying to determine who would be the most likely candidates for the remaining two positions in the Harmony Continuum. As we talked, my thoughts rolled around to the one pony I knew who was ridiculous enough and yet level-headed enough to fit the role of Cheer. She always seemed to be in the thick of parties, able to set up a DJ booth in a few minutes and have a party rockin' by the time the sun went down that evening after arriving for dinner. She was always nodding her head to whatever tunes played in her MP3 player. Her personality was dynamic yet cool and calm, but always ready to let loose at the slightest mention of a _breath_ of the word 'party'. She had hair that seemed to be a deeper variation on Canuck Chuck's… in fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd have to say they were siblings. Her coat had the palest of yellow you could possibly put on a pony without being stark, snowy white. Her eyes were piercing red, and her cutie mark was two joined eighth-notes…

"Hey, what about Vinyl Scratch?" I suddenly blurted.

Pinkie looked at me like a pony caught in a search light. "What about her, Derpy?"

"Look at the stuff needed for Cheer," I said. "Think about Vinyl's personality."

Pinkie Pie's eyes registered thought for only the slightest fraction of a second before she chuckled and facehoofed.

"Silly me!" she said jovially. "Why didn't I think of her? I'm such a ditzy-pants! Hey, I know where she lives, too!"

"You do?" Applejack asked.

Pinkie nodded. She stuck her hoof in her mane and began swishing around. "Hmm… that's weird… my renters are usually in this location…"

Completely confused, Rainbow Dash said, "Okay, you have some pretty weird stuff in your hair. How can you have ponies renting living space in there, too?"

"Silly Dashie," she said, smiling. "I'm Pinkie Pie!"

The rainbow-coifed pony groaned in exasperation. There was no arguing with Pinkie-logic… or lack thereof… ever. After a few minutes, she pulled her hoof out of her mane.

"Looks like one of you is going to have to go and find her in Pinkieville," she said with the largest grin ever on her face. "Who wants to come into my hair!" She hopped around in excitement.

Everyone looked at each other with nervous looks on their faces. When Rainbow Dash and I looked at each other, we grew serious and nodded. This was bigger than anypony here, and somebody needed to step to the plate.

"Derpy and I'll go," Dash said. "It can't be any more random in there than it is out here."

"Then I'll come, too," Scootaloo said, trying to stifle tears. "If I can't be a Guardian, I'll sure as hell help one out!"

Cheerilee looked at Scootaloo sternly, causing the little filly to shrink back. "Razortongue may have allowed you to use that kind of language, but I will _not_ have those words spoken in my house!"

The ochre filly shrunk back. "Sorry, ma'am…" She slinked over to join us.

Razortongue stepped up as well. "Boomer and I'd like to help, too."

"Now, when I lay in front of you, just step on my mane!" the party princess proffered. "It'll do the rest! You'll shrink to the size of an itty bitty muffin crumb and be able to see the city inside my head! You'll have so much fun!"

With that, Pinkie smiled as she lay down in front of us and literally slapped her face on the dirt.

"Hmm fmmm!" she exclaimed, giggling excitedly.

Without hesitation, Razoretongue and Boomdrop marched into her mane like two well-practiced army vets. They disappeared in a cloud of confetti. However, Rainbow, Scoots and I looked at each other, lacking the same amount of confidence. The lightning-flanked pegasus swallowed and set her hoof on Pinkie's mane. In a similar poof, Rainbow was suddenly absent. Scootaloo shrunk back and bumped into me.

"It'll be okay, Scoots," I said, gently giving her a couple shoves forward.

She saw my smile and chuckled.

She happily observed, "You always were good for a smile, Derpy."

I warmed up a little inside… even if I was about as nervous as she was. A coupe seconds and a poof of confetti later and I was the one stepping onto Pinkie's mane.

I still couldn't believe we were doing this.

I'll admit, stepping onto Pinkie's mane and shrinking to half the size of a muffin crumb was the _weirdest_ experience I had _ever_ had in my entire life. It felt like I was being swallowed by a giant pink monster smelling of candy and sweets, then slowly that monster formulated itself into thousands upon thousands of twisting, winding, corkscrewing caves, houses, tunnels, buildings, cotton candy clouds, fields… she literally had a whole world in her mane.

I walked forward slowly in awe, mouth agape. I had forgotten Rainbow and Scootaloo had entered ahead of me, so I ran into them. There were grunts all around.

"Derpy, watch where you're going!" Rainbow snapped, looking back.

Scootaloo also glared at me angrily. I stepped back a little bit.

"Sorry…" I mumbled. "This place is just so weird."

Scootaloo looked up at her idol. "I know. It's like all that crazy stuff from a year ago's come back and is now in Pinkie's hair."

Rainbow gulped. "She always liked the raining cotton candy clouds. They're just creepy to me."

The three of us gingerly walked around, exploring the wisps, whiffs and whirls of Pinkie Pie's hair. We passed by several ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, each a little off in their ways. It was like this place held every single eccentricity of Equestria, compressed into a space roughly the size of a watermelon and an amount of ponies less than what lived in Ponyville.

For example, one was a pony with a screw and a nut for a cutie mark. She was simply flying in circles, mumbling about random topics. Another was a virtual identical copy of Apple Bloom, dressed in a black biker outfit with sunglasses and smoking something from a blue pipe. She was painting a monolith word of indiscernible origin. One was a pegasus colt, a copy of Scootaloo except entirely blue. He held a bow and arrow and fired random shots at targets as he flew. We also passed by Berry Punch, stone-drunk with a human from a different world. The human was a pale brunette with green eyes. She wore a white shirt, a purple vest, and blue jean-shorts. Her boots clicked as she swung her legs beneath the bar stool, occasionally connecting with the bar underneath. She was just as belligerent and drunk as Berry.

It was then we passed by a sign calling this town Pinkieville, and claiming to be "the nexus of all dimensions". We stopped cold, confused looks slapping us all in the face.

"So… we now know how Pinkie breaks that fourth wall Crystal Fist mentioned…" Rainbow said. "Who knew she had a portal to every single world in existence in her mane?"

"It's not a fuckin' big deal," Razortongue said. "My dad was born here. We visit relatives here all the damn time."

Rainbow grew cross. "What did you just say? Huh!"

The red pony stared flat at her. "What? I said nothing out of the fuckin' ordinary."

"It's just how she speaks, Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo said. "It's not that fuckin' bad."

Rainbow glared at the little filly. "I don't know about her, but I'm not going to be responsible for your language again. I remember what happened last time, and I won't be going through that again! You stop swearing… right now!"

"Fuckin' killjoy…" Razor said, chuckling. Scootaloo, caught in the middle of a dishonestly-sad expression, uncontrollably chuckled with her.

"Alright, that's it!" Dash furiously exclaimed, leaping at the red filly.

A couple seconds later, there was a two-way brawl in the street. Scootaloo was cheering both parties on, caught up in the adrenaline of the moment. Boomdrop was just shaking her head. I was desperately trying to get them to stop. "Come on, you guys! Stop it! Everyone's looking at us! Please stop…" that kind of thing. A few minutes of this went on before Boomdrop calmly stepped between them, effortlessly separated their vicious entanglement with a couple picks on specific body points and applied a wrestler's suplex to them both in turn. Her mission completed, she stepped back as calm as she had stepped into the fray. Her mental stability always astonished me. Nothing ever seemed to shake her.

"That's enough, you two," she said.

Scootaloo's jaw hit the floor. Boomdrop looked at the filly that shrunk back in terror as their eyes connected. Something about the look visibly frightened the school-pony.

In the background, Razortongue stood up and twisted her neck, popping it in a couple places. She seemed to simply let it go. I wondered if Boomdrop had done that to her before. Rainbow Dash was still lying down, visibly stunned at her sudden reorientation.

"Long history with violence, kid," she said flatly. "Not one I'm going to recall to you, though. It would make you toss your lunch… if I were just to give you the things I did before your age. Let's just say if I wanted anyone in this party dead I would've done it by now, and nopony would know it was me."

The orange school-filly shivered, starting to tear up. How she who was once referred to as `Purple -Ghost' so casually spoke of death unnerved me as much as it seemed to discomfort Scootaloo.

The daredevil squeaked, "Y-you won't… h-h-hurt me… will you?"

Boomdrop laughed. "Not on your life. I like you, kid." She spread a wing. "Want a hug?"

Scootaloo looked at me. I guess she wanted some kind of comfort, so I nodded, indicating her safety. She gingerly walked up to the dangerous pega-zebra and let herself be wrapped in the wings of a killer. Soon she found no threats in the warmth of another's embrace as her least-favourite and most-intimidating traveling partner wrapped her up in her wings. She slowly relaxed and smiled, finally chucking in relief as the one she had feared so greatly now became one of her greatest allies. This was so plain to see in her face it practically glowed!

So we had resolved yet another minor spat. Shortly after Rainbow Dash had recovered from her stunned state, we resumed her search for… who were we looking for? I asked an audience member.

"Vinyl Scratch…" he/she said. "How'd you forget that, anyway?"

Oh yeah, Vinyl Scratch. I quickly shrugged a reply, remembering I wasn't supposed to really be breaking this plushy fourth-wall stuff anyway. That was Pinkie Pie's job. It's the first time I've felt it, though. Kinda soft to be unbreakable material, really… I mean, I bet I could…

A random crowd in some field somewhere suddenly shouted, "Get on with it!"

We resumed our search for Vinyl, once again wavering through blocks of exceptionally eccentric, eclectic, and effervescent citizens. Eventually, we came to a corner of town that was very different. It was… darker, less cotton candy pink, and more… I guess rose-pink… a deeper pink, anyway. It was hard to imagine a mare as cheerful as Pinkie having a dark side, but Rainbow Dash had apparently seen it… and it wasn't pretty, bordering on the sadistic.

Soon, however, we heard some familiar music pulsating from a club nearby. We knew there was only one pony with that kind of music, though there had been a lot of imitators since her first performance. She had been the sole survivor in the Dubstep Wars techno-mixing tournament of last summer, and to our surprise she was enormously unknown in Pinkieville, though she apparently lived there. That left a question on my mind…

"How long ago did she move here?" I thought… apparently out loud.

"She must've just fuckin' moved," Razortongue said. "Usually she makes a fuckin' friend instantly. She made friends with that bitch Octavia when she first moved to Ponyville, like, fuckin' overnight."

Boomdrop got a sly smirk on her face. "Kinda makes ya wonder what she did, eh, Razor?"

"Maybe she…" Razor began, leaning into Boomdrop's ear to whisper the rest. I provided a whistling cover for their secret conversation.

Myself, the red paint, pega-zebra, and pan-coloured pegasus all got a good chuckle at what they said. The joke went over the youngest filly's head. Desperate to belong, she asked a question that silenced all of us.

"What do you mean, Boomdrop? Razor? What did you say?" she asked.

The four adults among us, me included, just chuckled at the question and walked on. Obviously Scootaloo wasn't impressed, so she began pestering Rainbow Dash about what we were talking about.

Eventually, the Sonic Rainboom maker got irritated enough that she shouted at the filly, "Look, you're just gonna have to wait 'til you get older, okay, Scoots?"

"But I wanna know now!" she demanded. "Why the fuck do I have to be left out because of my age?"

Rainbow Dash looked about to snap, but quickly she took a deep breath and tried cooling off. We could see the stress of having to deal with Scootaloo was getting to her.

"Dash, go fly for a bit," Boomdrop said. "I'll take care of her."

"Thank you, Boomdrop!" Dash said. She screamed off into the sky at a pace where she almost performed a Sonic Rainboom on takeoff. Scootaloo groaned and stomped.

"Oh, I see! Running away, are we? You yellow bastard!" she screamed.

Boomdrop grabbed the little filly. "Now, that's not nice."

Razortongue frowned in kind. "I never call anyone a yellow bastard. Fuckin' asshole? Yes… but _never_ a yellow bastard."

Scootaloo groaned. "Just tell me what you were saying and I promise I won't ever use it again!"

Boomdrop looked helplessly at her marefriend and me. I just shrugged, unsure of what to do. Razortongue groaned.

"Geez, kid, you really are a fuckin' piece of work. If she really wants to know that fuckin' badly…" the red-and-white Earth paint said.

Boomdrop's head dropped. "Okay, kid, but remember – you asked for it."

She leaned into Scootaloo's ear and whispered the same thing she said to Razortongue. The filly's mouth dropped in shock.

"Okay, now I absolutely _have_ to know what this 'coitus' thing is…" she said, thoughtfully putting a hoof to her chin. "Cutie Mark Crusaders… coitus discoverers?" she mumbled as she walked away. "Wonder if Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would help me…?"

Razortongue groaned again. "What in the fuckin' name of the Princesses have we done?"

The assassin lowered her head. "I… think its best we don't know."

Boomdrop tossed her head to one side, clearing her face of stray mane-hairs. I knew Rainbow Dash would be absolutely furious. As a matter of fact, so would everyone else. What _did_ Boomdrop and Razortongue do! I groaned, deciding I would try to stop any further stuff like that from happening.

"Boomer, Razor…" I said. "Let's stop making those crude jokes around the kids, please, for their safety as much as ours."

We continued walking to the club. The marefriends nodded their heads in agreement just as Rainbow Dash came back to our group, cooled off and a little better-relaxed. She landed near me, clearly intent on avoiding Razortongue. In fact, they glared at each other, sticking their tongues out in a taunt.

"Dash," I said, whispering to my Continuum buddy.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Just to warn you…" I mumbled before whispering, "…Razor told Scoots about coitus."

Dash fainted.


	8. Determination's Limit

_Determination's Limit_

About five minutes later, after we revived the pan-coloured pegasus from her prone predicament, Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Boomdrop, Razortongue and I entered the club where the techno was occurring.

Well, we would've… if Vinyl Scratch didn't come screaming out the door, landing on her stomach and sliding a couple feet. She was followed by her turntables.

"And don't come back again!" a stallion's voice blared out of the bar.

What would cause Vinyl Scratch to be tossed out of a bar in a place where she should fit so well?

"Man, this town is cold…" she said, brushing herself off and levitating her gear.

"Vinyl!" Boomdrop shouted, galloping up to the technophile unicorn.

She lifted up her glasses and smiled. "Oh, hey, Boomer," she said. "How's Dashcore been getting along?"

The zebra-pegasus shook her head. "We don't have any time for music right now," she said. "We're here to find you. We've been on a long journey for… what, almost a year now?"

She looked back at us for assistance. Razortongue and I both nodded our confirmations. I couldn't see what Dash and Scoots were doing. They were behind me.

"'Bout that," Razor said.

I continued. "We're on a journey to find the Guardians of Harmony to defeat Crystal Fist. I think you may be one."

Vinyl sputtered and seemed to hack up a lung in extremely overkill fashion. "A'ight, Rainbow, who'd you have to beat up to get them to play this prank on me?" she said, glaring at the cyan pony.

"Believe me, this isn't a prank," she said.

"Each of us before you today, except Scootaloo here, is a member of the Harmony Continuum," Boomdrop informed. "Basically, we're the complete picture of Harmony."

"Get bent. And you need me to complete the beat, right?" she asked.

Scootaloo nodded. "According to Zytharros, we've got one more to gather."

"We won't fuckin' know if we've got the two we need 'til we try passin' through the damn boundary at Canterlot, though," Razortongue chirped. "Fuckin' coward Crystal Fist… hiding behind an energy barrier…" She screamed, "Come out and get fucked up like a real bitch!"

Vinyl Scratch cracked up, laughing and rolling on the ground. "Man, Boomer, your marefriend's always had such a way with words… 'Come out and get fucked up like a real bitch…' Classic!" She doubled over into a second fit of laughter.

We heard a little filly's laugh from behind us and turned to see Scootaloo also laughing her flanks off. Rainbow just facehoofed, while I blushed.

"This is not going as well as I'd hoped…" Rainbow said. "It's just not my day."

"Tell me about it…" I mumbled.

"Oh, come on, Dashie," Vinyl said, sidling up to the blue mare and wrapping a foreleg around her. "You've let a few words slip sometimes. Loosen up!"

"Around a filly?" she shouted. "Never!"

"Actually-" Scootaloo began.

Dash immediately stuffed a hoof down her throat. "Let's not talk about that time…"

Razortongue chuckled. "Fuckin' chicken, Rainbow?"

"You bitch…" Rainbow Dash seethed, her entire being corroding away into an epic epiphany of wrath that had started building up since before she fainted. "You're mine!"

With that, whatever control I had hoped to maintain immediately blew up in my face. Rainbow Dash attacked Razortongue. Boomdrop stepped in to defend her marefriend. Scootaloo tried to separate everypony, failing miserably. Vinyl Scratch joined the brigade of violence "to even up Rainbow's odds". I simply collapsed on my flank and cried. For a couple minutes, this crazy, violent war of supposed "harmony" continued, drawing a crowd of almost everypony in Pinkieville. They gained a series of cheers and even a round of bit betting on who would win. A couple ponies even started their own brawl in the spirit of the fight, which soon erupted into a full-scale riot.

I heard one pony mutter, "And the weekly riot begins…"

That was all I could take. I just scooped up Scootaloo and took off, out of Pinkie's mane, out of Sugarcube corner, out of Ponyville, and deep into the Everfree. I heard some ponies calling my name, but I paid them no mind. Everything had fallen to… well, shit… around me. I had disappointed Zytharros, my friends, my family, everyone…

I had derped up.

Again.

"What the Luna-damned fucking hell is wrong with me?" I screamed. "I'm such a screw-up!"

Just before I barreled headlong into a tree, a blue blur swept around and caught me and Scootaloo, who by that point I had forgotten I was holding and had begun screaming her head off in sheer terror at my long-time-coming, frighteningly self-destructive mental breakdown. As Rainbow Dash carried me around, ashamed that she had sent me into such a state, I just cried. The pressure… the new role… the fight… the… fuck it, the _insanity_ of it all finally drove me to spend the next three hours bawling my eyes out in a clearing in the forest, surrounded by Rainbow and Scootaloo.

"What did I do?!" I screamed at Rainbow. "I don't know what went wrong! Tell me!"

Rainbow was completely speechless. She knew I was having a hard time. She knew this. Yet Razor was always able to get the best of her. Somehow, Razor just dug in and stayed there. Through the blurs in my tears I could see in her eyes a thousand apologies wanting to explode from her mouth, yet none could be heard.

"Tell me! Let me know how I screwed up! Again!" I shrieked as I took hold of Rainbow Dash's forelegs in a deathgrip both of us were sure should have been impossible with mere hooves. "I hate this… I wish Zytharros were still here… he'd know what to say, what I did wrong…"

"Derpy…" Rainbow finally managed, trying to hold me in an embrace.

I angrily pushed away, fed up with her. "No, Rainbow. No. I screwed up. It's obvious you and Razor need to fight more than you need to be led. You can find a new Element of Determination."

Scootaloo's small voice, more timid than I had ever heard, pierced through my heart. "D-Derpy…"

"No. I'm through. I'm done," I mumbled, turning away. "I've fucked up enough."

Scootaloo ran towards me, and took hold of my hoof. "Derpy… I-I'm sorry…"

I hesitated for a second before I shook her grip loose. "It's not your fault, kid," I said, glaring daggers at Rainbow. "Rainbow and Razor can't seem to put off their fucking pissing contests long enough to help us save our entire world. Maybe we should just let them ruin it for everypony."

Rainbow stood, shocked and dumbfounded. She had never heard me speak like this before. I could tell had struck a nerve deeper than anything she had ever been told by Razortongue before – and I wasn't through yet.

"After all, what is loyalty but _fucking backstabbing the country you apparently love so much_?" I seethed bitterly. "Apparently yours only runs so far as _the first challenger to brutalize your Luna-damned ego_. No more. If the damn Harmony Continuum won't fuckin' cooperate with itself, then I want no part of its _fucking ass-backwards insanity_."

I had reduced her to a smoldering pile of tears – and I was glad. Maybe now it would sink in. "D-Derpy…" she whimpered. "Stop…"

"Fuck you," I snapped before storming off into the Everfree.

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash with disdain before following me into the black abyss. "I'm staying with Derpy."

Her biggest fan was gone. Her Harmony ally was gone. She had fought a war to defend her honour and, although she had won the war, she had lost her friends. For the first time in all the time I had known her, I heard the cyan pegasus allow herself the freedom to truly cry as I angrily stormed off, Crusader Scootaloo in tow.

She could drown in a lake of her tears, for all I cared.


	9. Twice Broken

_Twice Broken_

I didn't care about Equestria. Not now. Not after what Derpy said to me. I only cared about her. I wanted to make it right. I wanted to fix it. I wanted this whole mess dealt with now. First, though, I had some serious anger that needed venting – and the recipient of the punishment I was about to deal was myself. Another stream of tears poured from my eyes as I raged against anything in my vicinity in a vain attempt to shut off the unstoppable flow. I didn't care about my coolness now. Derpy needed to come back. We needed her. We needed everyone.

Yeah, that's right. This mess of tears, rage, anger, misery, fear, destruction, mental chaos and out-and-out uncoolness was once the coolest pony in Equestria, the one and only Rainbow Dash. She was once known for her speed, her athleticism, her joy at flight, and her perfectly tough visage.

All that was gone… all because she couldn't hold back her motherbucking Luna-damned temper!

"Why in the forsaken realms of Tartarus does Razor get to me like this?" I demanded of myself. "She taunts like I taunt, she fights like I fight, she walks like I walk, she…"

"That's all I know how to fuckin' do…"

That timid little whisper… it was so Fluttershy-like it nearly broke me again. How could two so opposite ponies exist in one body?! I just about snapped again before she continued, this time very seriously.

"When you've grown up a victim of a broken home… your mom dying before your very eyes, your father abandoning you for the drink, and your dreams being smashed to pieces daily simply because you're an Earth pony… don't you think you'd start to become a little angry with life?" Razortongue stepped beside me and looked into the darkness of the forest, then looked at the sky. I knew what was going on in her mind; her eyes blazed with hatred and insane jealousy. "Every day, I long for what you have, Rainbow Dash. Every time I see you fly, I get so pissed off I can't help but snap. I get so jealous…" she pleaded with me through her eyes. "You get to feel the goddess-damn sky around you, the wind beneath your wings, the freedom to just up and fuckin'… take off. You get a chance to become a Wonderbolt, something I can only hope to become. Me… I'm stuck on the fuckin' earth, feeling like a bastard, trans-bodied pony."

I looked at her, wide-eyed and amazed. Those words were filled with raw emotion and power.

"But why me?" I asked. "Why aren't you as jealous of Canuck Chuck, Boomdrop, or Fluttershy?"

"Boomdrop's wings are laced with metal knives," Razor said. "As part of her training with Black Silver, they bastardized some of her gorgeous feathers with a right fucking confusingly complex network of super-thin, super-sharp razorblades and hydraulics. If she flexes her wings just right, they flare out. Because of this added weight, she can't fly for long, and she isn't terribly fast. She glides mostly, only flapping her wings when she has to. The pain of standard speed is too much, and sometimes the blades come out and cut into her wings. Celestia knows how many damn times she's been in shithole city with infections because of it. And removing them? For-fuckin'-get it! If you did that, you'd be removing half of her bloody appendage and part of her Celestia-forsaken spine along with her modifications! May as well strip her of what little damn dignity she has left and rape her of her wings, too…"

"You're lying." I couldn't believe it.

Razor blew a raspberry. "Try telling that to a pony who bangs her… and has to avoid what's supposed to be the biggest single erogenous zone on a pegasus' whole fuckin' body."

That sealed it. She was being honest. I almost retched. I knew how much pain a pegasus wing could feel when broken. I couldn't imagine the kind of pain that having knives implanted in wings would put a pony through. Immediately I gained a new sense of respect for my fellow pegasus.

Razor continued. "As for Canuck Chuck, he can fly, like, forever, but he isn't a stunt flier. He even failed the sonic rainboom almost four hundred fuckin' times in a single day without a break. He lives at Mach One. He speaks, lives, breathes, eats… everything he does is that fast. It's hard to understand the little colt because of this, which is why he was given a portion of Princess Celestia's power and a transplanted unicorn horn to use for communication when he first started speaking. Hell, his legs are so weak he's had to learn how to land like a butterfly to keep them from collapsing. It's no wonder his landing's totally soundless."

"Wow…" I asked, my voice cracking in surprise.

"On to Fluttershy," she said. "That damn pegasus was the only real fuckin' mother I had, and I only knew her for five damn years. In fact, it was less than two weeks after I left in a fuckin' rage that I suddenly find Fluttershy on the cover of the fuckin' Fillydelphia Tribune, with you and the other Elements of Harmony. She doesn't fuckin' talk about me because the day I stormed out I told her she was only good at taking care of animals, not ponies. I blamed her for everything I had experienced. I had reduced her to a bloody hermit. I even called her a fucking cunt sack asswipe of a bitch and accused her of murdering my mother!"

That got my back up. "You did what?"

Then came the loudest scream I had ever heard from a pony. I thought I was loud. I thought the Royal Canterlot Voice was loud. No. This was like taking the Royal Canterlot Voice and tripling its volume. I had no idea a pony could shout like this.

"I'm fucking sorry!" she screamed before collapsing in a heap. "I don't want to hold this in anymore!"

After recoiling from my wince, I looked at her in surprise. The loudest mouth in the group had simply curled into a fetal position and begun shaking. There were no tears. She had just curled up and created her own mini-earthquake.

"I forgive you."

Like a lightning bolt striking my wings, Razortongue and I shot our heads over to the same entrance to this small clearing I had used. There in the moonlight stood the same blonde-coated mare we had just talked about. Fluttershy, with a smile as kind as a sunlit day after a hard night of explaining why your parents caught you with your head in the plot of your latest cru–

Okay, heat rising in cheeks now… yeah, not completing that thought.

"You… what?" Razor asked, looking over at the only adult she truly respected.

Fluttershy continued smiling. "I forgive you."

Razortongue's eyes began filling with tears as they embraced. I was confused and in shock. I mean, how do you come to terms with the fact your Flight School best pal had turned out to have taken care of a filly herself? How was I to take this complete collapse of a headstrong mare like Razor? What the hay brought them together in the first place? And why did she open up to me?

Fluttershy apparently noticed my problem and held Razortongue at arm's length. "Razor, I think you should tell her."

"About what?" she asked.

"Your story."

Razor sniffled and wiped her eyes with a fetlock. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. I mean, we've been traveling together for… fuckin'… weeks now. It's only polite."

I frowned. "I hope it's not long. I've got to get Derpy back."

Razor visibly bit her tongue at that, as hurt as she was offended.

Fluttershy frowned and glared at me. "Rainbow Dash! Listen to her! She doesn't open up to a lot of ponies."

"Okay, okay," I said, defensively pushing air with a forehoof. "Geez. Try to crack a joke and everyone gets a little touchy…"

"Dashie!" Fluttershy snapped.

I immediately collapsed to my haunches and gave the Earth pony paint my full attention. She sighed and opened her mouth slowly.

"It all began three years before your rainboom…"


	10. Elsewhere

_Elsewhere_

A pale hoof twitched in the cold breeze. The pony it belonged to shuddered and caressed the midnight black cloak that adorned her alabaster coat, increasing her pull so it was brought closer to her slender form in the hopes that it would grant some reprieve from this nightmarish cold certain to destroy her luxurious mane. Like every day before when I took this iron seat two months ago, I questioned my motives.

_Why did I choose to betray my friends? For freedom? For glory? For fame? No. It couldn't be for any of those things. I am alone, up here, on this dusty boulder in the sky, with only… _her… _for company. So why did I do it? I should stand up right now and-_

And just like every time before, the voice came back.

_You do and you will taste the hell you marched into for believing your precious Celestia could save you!_

That voice… that toxic, unwavering voice… I whimpered, slithering back into my cold metal throne… no, _her_ cold metal throne. I knew that voice well. It had been the voice that had taunted me, tainted me, and broke me last time she was in town. I hated that voice, cursed that voice, wanted to destroy that voice… yet now…

I bit my lip and fidgeted with the delicate curl of my violet mane, chewing on the pale muscular tissue leading into my mouth as the resigned resolution of my status once again caused me to fall into a depressive state.

_It… it is for the best. I gave it all I had. A lady must admit defeat if she wants to move on… right?_

A nervous, sad chuckle escaped my lips. I was certain my friends had all been captured. I had seen them all fall, one by one. I had watched her power shatter our wills effortlessly. As she did, I tried negotiating with her within my mind. It did not work, at least, not initially. I did not know where she kept me, though from the smells I gathered she had locked me away in a bakery. With how sweet the scents were I could only assume it was Sugarcube Corner.

From that point on in my sealed state, locked away in my own mind, I caught shattered glimpses of time and space: Crystal Fist commanding my friends through my body, Twilight and I working together on some kind of Celestia-damning plan, the six of us gathering in Canterlot and saluting our master, orders received, separate missions assigned, pony after pony imprisoned, the battle for the domination of Celestia, the redemption of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and finally the end of Zytharros' freedom... I saw every last one of them as if I had a first-person perspective each and every time. Each time she would declare her power before me and brag about her next conquest. Up until last month, I had kept the will and fortitude necessary to declare my unwavering resolve, steeled against her in defiant freedom. But… something has changed. Indeed, it is as if all will to resist has simply ceased to exist betwixt the venom spit from her porcelain black lips.

I shudder to think I had become a victim of Stockhoof Syndrome, and yet it is the only possible logical outcome for my predicament…

I still hoped for my friends to arrive and help me, but I was beginning to wonder if Crystal Fist is truly as bad as they said she was. I began to wonder if we were all mistaken.

The wind passed across some exposed skin. I knew she was there. She would pass across this gray stone like some kind of wraith, emerging, deconstructing, misting and sometimes walking or flying along, depending on the whim of the moment. At that time, she had decided to simply coast in on artificial wind she had generated. Based on the smell, she had just come back from a visit between dimensions, where her queendom still ran. It smelt of rotten eggs and fish that had been left out in the sun for months, married to the smell of a squeaky-clean Sweetie Belle after a nice hot shower.

How I miss my little sister…

"Rarity," she said, greeting me cordially.

I fidgeted with my cloak a little, illuminating it with a sky-blue sheen of light. "Crystal," I replied, flat as ever.

A small smirk played at the edges of her lips. "How are you, my Queen?"

I swallowed. We both knew who the real queen was. I was simply a pawn, as Tangerine had been. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the title, at least a little. It would have been a lot better if I had the power and wealth to go along with it.

Her porcelain black figure, shimmering in the light of the magical torches, gained and lost an eerie red cast to it as she circled. She licked her lips slightly.

"It's a little… cold," I replied.

Crystal frowned. "Did you not have enough wood to light the fire?"

I sunk deeper into my cloak. "The coat's fine."

She scoffed at me. "Please. My vessel must be warm and receptive."

"At first," I muttered bitterly.

Crystal chuckled and levitated a large number of logs over. She set them all ablaze with a slow-burning, yet comfortable white flame.

"Come now, Rarity," she said, a disconcerting smile upon her visage. "Your friends will be here shortly. You'll be back together again. Isn't that wonderful?"

"They will be back," I said. "And when they get here, they will free me."

I decided I would say no more. Crystal on the other hoof just chuckled.

"When they return for Zytharros, when I allow myself to die again…" she said, beginning an otherworldly chuckle throughout the next line "…I will personally see to it that his world meets its end." She snapped me up in a choke-hold and blew away my throne in one fell swoop, her face shattering between amused and angry in a half-blink of an eye. "And if you tell them anything, I will destroy both worlds."

I swallowed.

"And I will use… _her_… as bait."

I coughed. "Apple… ap-ah-ahhh…"

And I blacked out.


End file.
